Blog Post 2

Mintz 2 and 3 talked about cuisine and how people think of it. In the reading Mintz talks about how people think and feel about food or lack thereof. For instance, when most people eat, they don’t think about the taste, smell, temperature or appearance of what they’re eating because it’s so normal to eat. Theres no easy definition as to what cuisine is, however, the best description is that foods aren’t of the country but of the place. This means that rather than cuisine coming from a country it comes from a place, from a group of people who create the recipes and use the food resources available to them to help make their cuisine unique. Cuisine is the food of the community, not compiled of recipes from a book but made by the community that take pride in their food. Another thing to take into account when looking into cuisines is different regions’ diets. Diets vary vastly on the region, some diets consist of many fish because they are near a large fishing area while someone who lives in the middle of the country might not, making their diets different. Mintz also talks about Americans and what they eat, making a point to show how unhealthy it is compared to other countries. Unlike many other countries the United States does not have a cuisine unique to its country but rather eats commercialized food.

Nation and cuisine, the evidence from American newspapers, argue against Mintz that Americans don’t have cuisine. The basis of Rays argument is that Americans do have cuisine and the proof is in the restaurants, many restaurants may create a certain cuisine of food however more times than not there will be a section of the menu that has a burger, chicken tenders, or grilled cheese. Those are all prominently connected to what Americans may consider their cuisine. Mintz talks about how cuisine is a place and not a country, but America goes against that definition by having many types of food that is eaten all over the country. While the foods might not be specific to the region, they are still a staple in Americans foodways.